KUIPERS BELT

By: Colin the Camden and Keith

Kuipers belt...

• This belt is in the far region of space around the inner edge of Pluto. 30 AU from the son that’s 2.789e + 9 miles . Various things are in Kuipers belt like comets,rocks,ice and dwarf planets like Makemake Haumea and eris.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

ERIS

• It’s the largest known dwarf planet

• around the same size as Pluto but farther from the sun.

• It has its own moon called Dysnomia. Eris radius is about 722 miles. .

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.

Eris continued...

• Eris has a radius of about 722 miles

• A full revolution around the sun for Eris is 577 earth years

• Its atmosphere is collapsed so the surface is very snowy

• Its atmosphere is like this since Eris is so far from the sun it takes 9 hours for sunlight to hit Eris.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

Internal and external structure

• Its internal structure is composed of a thin nitrogen-rich ice mantle and frozen methane

• Since Eris is so far in space this is all the info known of its internal structure.

• Its External structure is rocky and filled with mountains its thought that the tempaturestays around -238°C (-396°F)

• Eris is seen as a bright white planet due to its methane-nitrogen rich (snow) that covers its surface.

Citations

• https://solarstory.net/planets/eris#internal-structure

Pluto

• Pluto is a dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune's orbit in the Kuiper belt, a ring of worlds beyond Neptune's orbit.

• It was the first and biggest object found in the Kuiper belt.

• Pluto was named the ninth planet from the Sun after its discovery in 1930.

• Following the discovery of many objects of comparable size in the Kuiper belt including the dwarf planet Eris, its existence as a planet was questioned beginning in the 1990s.

Pluto

• Mass - 13,090,000,000,000,000,000,000kg

• Size - 738.38 mi

• Density - 1.88 g/cm³

• Composition – Mixture Of 70 Percent Rock & 30 Percent Water & Ice

Properties

Periods

Rotational Period - 6.39 Earth Days Orbital Period - 247.94 years

Pluto Surface Conditions• Pluto's surface is characterized by

mountains, valleys, plains, and craters.

• The temperature on Pluto can be as cold as -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit

• The most prominent plains observed on Pluto appear to be made of frozen nitrogen gas and show no craters.'

• Pluto is about half the width of earth

Pluto Atmosphere And Composition

• The vapor pressure of Pluto's surface ices maintains the atmosphere's composition

• which is dominated by nitrogen.

• This means that changes in the dwarf planet's frozen surface temperature will result in significant variations in the density of its atmosphere

• Nitrogen 90%

• Methane 10%

• What causes this is the Earth's distance from the Sun.

Moons

• Has 5 Moons

• Charon

• Hydra

• Kerberos

• Nix

• Styx

• Formed By a Collision

Internal Structure

• It is not clear as to the internal structure of Pluto, but it is strongly believed that Pluto's core is a solid rocky core surrounded by a water ice mantle and topped with frozen nitrogen.

Missions of Pluto

• The First Mission

• Help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system

Similarities and Differences

• Differences

• Longest Orbital Period

• Not classified as a gas planet

• Similarities

• Spherical

• Rotates on an Axis

Similarities and diffrences

Due to Eris being so out of earths reach the only similar dwarf planet we can base it off is Pluto.

Both have similar climate and terrain

Citations

• Solar System Exploration. [online] Available at: <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/pluto-moons/in-depth/> [Accessed 10 October 2021].

• Images.google.com. 2021. Google Images. [online] Available at: <https://images.google.com/> [Accessed 10 October 2021].

• NASA Solar System Exploration. 2021. Pluto. [online] Available at: <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/overview/> [Accessed 10 October 2021].

• The Nine Planets. 2021. Pluto Facts | Atmosphere, Surface, Moons, Information, History & Definition. [online] Available at: <https://nineplanets.org/pluto/> [Accessed 10 October 2021].

• Spaceplace.nasa.gov. 2021. All About Pluto | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids. [online] Available at: <https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ice-dwarf/en/> [Accessed 10 October 2021].

General Properties (MakeMake)

•Makemake is a dwarf planet slightly smaller than Pluto and is the second brightest object in the Kuiper Belt as seen from Earth.

•Mass: 0.00052ME• Radius: 444.28mi

• Rational period: 22.5 hours.

• Orbital period:306 years

Surface Conditions (MakeMake)

• Average temperature is extremely low

• Surface is covered with methane, ethane and possibly nitrogen ice

•Appears to be a reddish-brown color.

• May develop a very thin atmosphere most likely made of nitrogen when it is closest to the sun.

Internal and External Structure

• A rocky core and a crust composed mostly of methane and ethane.

• Molecules named Tholins give MakeMake its reddish-brown color.

• Has no atmosphere

• Outer layer is made of pellets of frozem methane

Similarities and Differences with other objects in the Solar System (MakeMake)

• MakeMake is like a sibling of Pluto

• Makemake is the second most distant dwarf planet from the Sun behind FarFarout.

• No atmosphere

• Like the Earth, MakeMake has only one orbiting moon nicknamed K2 which was recently discovered back in 2016.

• It's surface covered in methane like Pluto

• Despite being smaller then Pluto is the second brightest object in the Kuiper Belt

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Missions

• There are no past or current missions to visit MakeMake.

• No space probes have visited either

Citations

• “Makemake.” NASA, NASA, 6 Aug. 2021, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/makemake/in-depth/.